


Arms Unfolding

by carolldanvrs



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Author!Steve, Baker!Bucky, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2020-05-15 23:48:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19306336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carolldanvrs/pseuds/carolldanvrs
Summary: Steve tries to focus on the people passing by the window, trying not to think about how his ex-boyfriend who crushed his soul and stole his heart is working at the one coffee shop of thousands in New York City that he decided to walk into. This is just great.





	Arms Unfolding

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my first li'l fic. Just a short one about two people falling out of love and then finding each other again. Enjoy! :)

The day hadn’t started off great. Steve’s alarm decided not to go off this morning, meaning that by the time he woke up he was already a good half an hour late to his meeting. Getting ready in a hurry, he completely forgot to brush his teeth, never mind having a chance to grab breakfast of a coffee. But luckily, he made it to his meeting, just shy of half an hour late, which is an accomplishment if you ask him. Navigating the subway system in 10 minutes, he deserves a freaking fold star.

But he made, and thank God his publishers were understanding. It was an important meeting that he couldn’t afford to miss, and the fact that he was actually late for it makes his skin crawl. His book getting published is his dream come true. Being an actual author with a book with words that he spent months and months writing and perfecting out there for the world to read, it’s all he ever wanted. He’s lucky that his publishers excused his tardiness. The meeting went well, he thinks. They’re seriously considering his book, everything is on track, everything is great.

The meeting ended 20 minutes ago, and Steve has been walking around the streets of New York on a high since then, not sure where to go, too excited to just go back home. He continues walking, deciding he should probably grab something to eat, forgetting how hungry he was during the meeting. He passes a coffee shop, one he’s never seen before. 

It’s quaint, in a secluded area, a not-quite alleyway off of a main road. Two small chairs and tables with little umbrellas line the windows outside. Inside is quite small, warm glowing lighting hanging from the ceiling, plants on pretty much every available surface, messages from customers past and present scatter the beams, some messages from people from other countries who found this place on a whim, others from regulars who seem to spend a lot of time at this place.

He walks in and takes a seat closest to the window, where he can look out of the window and see people passing, going about their days. Some tourists, some business people pushing their way through the crowds. Steve likes this place, he decides. It’s a quiet sanctuary from where he can watch the world, uninterrupted. 

Picking up the menu that is sat in the middle of the table, he reads over it deciding what to get. Small patterns line the outside of the menu that has been handwritten, he smiles down at it, it’s adorable, but achingly familiar. The cafe has a wide selection of teas, some Steve has never even heard of, fruit and herbal, a wide selection of coffee’s and cakes, a small plates menu, too. There’s so much choice that Steve is struggling to decide.

He pours himself over the menu until he has decided. He stands up and walks over to the counter, where a young woman with red hair is working. 

“Hello! Welcome to the Coffee Inn, what can I get for you today?” She says with a wide smile.

“Hey, um, just a coffee and a slice of chocolate cake please.” Steve replies.

“Coming right up!” She begins to place the order when someone comes out of the back room.

“Hey, Wanda, we need another order of flou-” the man begins before stopping when his eyes land on Steve.

“Steve?”

“Bucky.” Steve is at a loss for words. He never thought that he would see him again, his true love, the man who broke her heart, the man who left him without a clue in life, taking her soul as he packed up his DVDs and T-shirts, distinguishing the fire in his heart with the slam of a door.

“W-what are you doing here?” Bucky’s surprised, Steve knows him so well, even after all this time.

“Um, well it’s a cafe.” Steve explains the obvious. “Wanted a drink.”

He nods, looking like the wind has been knocked out of him. “You look nice.” Bucky says, noticing Steve’s suit. “Big meeting?”

“Yeah, with a publisher.”

“Really?” He smiles big, and it feels like a punch in the gut, Steve’s missed that smile so much. “That’s great… Really great. Wow, I know how much you wanted that, I’m so happy for you.”

“Thanks.” Steve replies, looking down. He desperately wants to meet his eyes, but it’s so painfully awkward for him to be seeing Bucky again after what happened the last time they both saw each other. Trying to have a normal conversation beyond basic politeness seems near impossible, and the thought of it makes Steve sweat with panic.

An awkward moment lingers in the air before Wanda comes back with his coffee and cake. “That’ll be $10 please.”

“On the house.” Bucky says quick, still stood in the doorway of the kitchen. “Don’t worry about the money, it’s on the house. God knows I owe you something.” He says with a nervous chuckle.

“It’s no problem, I can pay.” Steve doesn’t really feel like being in debt to Bucky anytime soon.

“No, I insist. Please.”

Steve pauses a moment before deciding to accept the offer, just to get this exchange to end. “Okay. Thanks.” He smiles at Wanda, picking up his drink and cake and taking it back to his table. He tries to focus on the people passing by the window, trying not to think about how his ex-boyfriend who crushed his soul and stole his heart is working at the one coffee shop of thousands in New York City that he decided to walk into. This is just great.

He pulls out his notebook, hoping that some writing can take his mind off things, while sipping his coffee and taking a bite of cake every now and then. They’re both amazing, of freaking course they are, Bucky made them, so why wouldn’t they be? Steve sometimes regrets what happened, just so that he could have a life time supply of everything Bucky bakes.

He beings to jot down some ideas, looking out of the window, wondering where everyone is going, what they’re talking about, who they’re talking to. Allowing his mind to run freely, de-stressing and letting his imagination wander, trying to forget where he is.

Steve takes a last sip of his drink, savouring the flavour, it’s really damn good. He’s setting the mug back down on the table when Bucky walks over, plate in hand.

“I come with a peace offering.” He says, placing the plate down in front of Steve and taking the chair across from him. “Cherry Bakewell, your favourite.” 

“You really know how to win me over.” He smiles. “Thanks, I’ve missed these, almost as much as I missed you.” Steve says as he takes a bite, and it’s like euphoria in his mouth, and he has to try and stifle a moan. “Oh my God, how are they even better than last time. It’s so good. You should try being a baker or something, might be a good career path for you.” He jokes, and it almost feels like old times. 

“Y’know what, that’s not a bad idea, why didn’t I think of that?” Bucky laughs. “And as for the Cherry Bakewell, same recipe, probably just because you haven’t had one so good in so long.” He says, trailing off at the end.

There’s a moment of silence between them as Steve finishes his food and the weight of what Bucky said settle between them. 

“I missed you too, y’know.” Steve looks up to meet Bucky’s eyes this time. “A lot. What happened… I regret it, more than anything. We shouldn’t have ended like that, or at all. It’s really nice to see you again.” Bucky says, a hopeful glint in his eye.  
“Me too.” Steve replies, both looking at each other, before he realises how deep he’s gone into Bucky’s eyes and looks away, coughing slightly. “I should really get going.” He starts to gather his stuff. Bucky looks disappointed. 

“But you don’t have to. Please stay.”

“I can’t stay here.” Steve replies.

“At least give me the chance to make it up to you, please. My shift ends in 10 minutes, just wait for me. Please. I just want to- I need to talk to you. I need to make things right.”

Steve contemplates what he’s saying. He understands, he really does. He feels the same way sometimes. He’s thought about this moment for months and months, always wondering where they would be, what would happen, what they would say. He understands Bucky’s need to talk. Hell, Steve probably needs to talk too, and Bucky is the only person he ever felt he could truly talk to without judgement. 

“Okay.” It comes out quieter than he intended, but he said it.

“Thank you. Thank you so much.” Bucky almost jumps out of his chair. “I won’t be long, I promise.” He rushes back over to the kitchen, glancing back over to Steve sat at his table, a big smile on his face.

Steve leans back in his chair and lets out a breath. He needs this, he thinks, to finally talk over what happened. Everything has been so fuzzy since Bucky left, and he hates how much he lied on him to stay afloat, and still does.

He carries on looking out of the winder, but this time no thoughts come to his mind, he’s too wrapped up in the conversation he’s about to have. He doesn’t regret his decision to stay, he’s just nervous and he hates that he’s nervous about being around Bucky again. Bucky was the person Steve never had to be nervous around. He was safety, he was home. 

Before Steve realises it, the 10 minutes are up and Bucky comes rushing back over, coat in hand. “C’mon, I know the perfect place we can go.” He holds out his hand, before realising they’re not there yet, may never be there again, and stiffly puts his arm back by his side.

Steve stands up, taking his coat from the back of the chair. “Let’s go.” He smiles.

Steve follows Bucky out of the cafe, and they walk side-by-side in a silence that he hates is so uncomfortable. It shouldn’t be like this. Or maybe it just feels uncomfortable to him. But no one is speaking, and for all the words that Steve has in his head, that he writes down day in day out, his mind is silent and blank, not words coming to his brain, not questions he has to ask. He doesn’t know what to say, and he doesn’t even know who Bucky is anymore, if he’s still the same person or not. Maybe Steve has changed, for all he knows. He doesn’t know how to navigate this familiar-unfamiliar territory, and it’s not fair.

They carry on walking for a couple more minute before Steve realises where they’re heading. To the park, to the little gazebo where they spent too much time, where they went to have break from their apartment to get some fresh air and sit around other humans, feeling the sun on their faces.

There’s no sun today though. It’s drizzly and wet, it has been since early this morning and it will be until later on tonight. Steve forgot to bring an umbrella in his rush this morning, and it looks like Bucky did, too, he thinks, but neither of them seem to mind. It’s an underrated pleasure, sometimes, to feel the rain on your skin.

It’s not long before they reach the gazebo. Steve hasn’t been here since they broke up, but it looks as though it hasn’t changed a bit, apart from a few new pieces of graffiti, but at least it’s a constant while the world around it keeps changing and evolving drastically. 

They go to their usual bench, on the back wall of the gazebo, and Bucky opens his mouth to speak a few times, getting ready to say something, before closing it again, trying to find the right words to say.

“Hey, you um, you want a coffee or anything?” Bucky asks, looking over at the little cafe at the centre of the park.

“Just had one.” Steve reminds Bucky. He’s wondering if he should start regretting his decision a bit more now, it’s a lot more awkward than he ever wanted it to be.

“Right, yeah. Forgot, sorry.” Bucky laughs, trying to diffuse some of the tension. “So, you’re getting a book published then? That’s great!”

“Yeah, hopefully it’s gonna get published, it’s going well so far though, looking like it’s going to happen.”

“What’s it about? Wait, can you tell me? You don’t have to tell me if you can’t if there’s some contract thing or whatever.”

“No, it’s fine I can tell you. It’s a kids book, about these kids who go on an adventure to the stars.” Bucky starts smiling. “What?”

“You wrote about the stories we made as kids.” Bucky is smiling even more, and Steve loves it, he’s missed that smile so much.

“Well yeah, I couldn’t not they were great.”

“You’ll have to let me know when it get published, I’m gonna buy so many copies I’m not gonna be able to leave my house.”

Steve laughs, and the tension begins to diffuse. “So you finally opened that cafe then?”

Bucky huffs. “Yeah, took lot longer than I thought it would though, but it’s finally there. The Coffee Inn. My own freaking business.”

“It’s really great, Buck. Everyone deserves “Cakes by Barnes” even if you don’t deserve to be so talented at baking.”

“Hey!” Bucky shouts, mocking being offended.

They ease back into conversation, and it’s easier than Steve thought it was going to be. It’s everything he’s every wanted in the 542 days since their relationship fell apart and they lost contact.

They talk for hours, about how they’ve been, what they’ve been doing, how their families and friends are. Steve finds himself wishing that the conversation would never end, but it’s getting late.

“Hey, you wanna come back to mine? We could order pizza and put on a movie.” They’ve just finished discussing the new Star Wars movie when Bucky asks the question, and Steve knows he should say no but of course he says yes.

And that’s how Steve finds himself slouched on Bucky’s couch, the same couch that was here last time, 4 beers deep, pizza consumed, a shitty Netflix movie is on the TV, and they both go through phases of not paying attention to it to ripping the film apart and shouting at the TV, and Steve loves it, he never wants to lost it again. 

“Okay, so I gotta say something I’ve been wanting to say for the bast 6 hours or whatever but I didn’t have enough liquid look in me but now I think we’re good to go.” Bucky exclaims, motioning to the bottles of beer on the coffee table.  
“Alrighty then, what you gotta say?” Steve says, a smile creeping onto his face.

“So, okay, okay, okay, okay.”

“Bucky! Just say it.”

“Okay! I am just gimme a sec.” He closes his eyes. “Okay! I’m back, so I’m just gonna start talking ‘cause that’ll make this so much easier and hopefully less awkward and maybe while I’m rambling I can just come out and say it and say the things I wanna say.”

“Bucky stop rambling just tell me” Steve says, poking Bucky in his ribs.

“Alright!” Bucky holds up his hands. “So, I miss you. I miss you so fucking much, and yeah I know that’s not fair for me to say that to you with how things ended and I take one hundred and twelve percent blame for that, I do, truly. It was all my fault an-“

“It wasn’t all your fault, it couldn’t have been. There’s two people in a relationship. Don’t blame it all on yourself, that’s not fair either.”

“Okay fine, but I take most of the responsibility, like one hundred and one percent of it. If I wasn’t so stupid none of it would have happened.”

“Okay, I can agree with you on that.” They both laugh, the alcohol making everything so much less awkward and Steve has never been so thankful for beer. “Just don’t go blaming yourself entirely, I don’t want you living like that.”

Bucky looks down, and he can tell how difficult this is, laying it all out there for a man who may as well be a stranger they’ve spent so long apart.

“But the things is.” Bucky begins, and Steve almost guesses at what he’s going to say. “I still love you. I’ve spent a long time trying to convince myself that I don’t, I’ve tried to move on but it’s impossible for me. I know you probably don’t want to forgive me, and I don’t blame you for that I really don’t. And it’s okay, it’s okay if you still don’t love me, I can accept that, I promise. I just had to tell you how I still feel.”

Steve was right, he knew exactly what Bucky was going to say, but he’s still at a loss for words. The confession is a lot, and he’s still a bit conflicted with how he should react. But his heart and gut knows, even if his head hasn’t read the memo yet.

“Close your eyes.” Steve says.

“What?”

“Close your eyes.”

“…Okay.” Bucky is hesitant, clearly unsure with what is happening, and Steve smiles at himself as he goes in for a kiss. It’s tender and passionate and familiar. The butterflies in his stomach that have been dormant for too long are suddenly awake and flying. Eyes closed, smiling, he holds onto Bucky as he kisses back.

The kiss goes on, neither of them wanting it to end, but they eventually have to come up for air. “I still love you too.” Steve says, breathless. They both smile and giggle at each other, like they’ve both discovered a secret of the universe that only they know about, something they need to keep hold of and protect.

“So I guess we should do something about it then?” Bucky asks, grinning.

“I guess we should.” Steve climbs on top of Bucky, legs between his and the couch, and starts kissing him again and again and again.


End file.
